Several years ago (and when I say several, I mean maybe a decade ago), my nephew (now 15) was obsessed with Lego's and Fisher-Price, and his favorite incarnations of these toys were pirates, castles, knights, and dragons. He's also peeled the wallpaper off the walls of his room, which had been his nursery (sorry to air the dirty laundry, sister dear). The room really needed an update. So sister dear stripped the wallpaper and put a basecoat on the walls. And over Christmas break, we got a little nutty and did this.

As for the how we did it.

1. Rent an overhead projector or opaque projector.
2. Find a coloring book with the images you want to use.
3. Make copies of the page on transparency (for an overhead projector).
4. Buy a whole bunch of acrylic paint and brushes. And Sharpies. (Much to my Mom's horror -- "how will you ever cover that up?") Don't forget the pencils.
5. Pop the first image on the wall and determine the right size for the image. (I think ours are about 3 feet tall.) Trace it on the wall with the pencil.
6. Repeat on the other walls with the other images.
7. Paint sections as desired. It's like a coloring book on steroids!
8. Once it's dry, draw outlines and fine lines using a permanent marker.

I did the pirate ship. My sister and brother-in-law did the castle. Since we started at 8pm, my nephew was supposed to be sleeping in the other room. But every once in a while, as we discussed what color certain things should be, we'd hear this little voice reminding us that the knights should be red and black, the banners should be different colors, etc. So finally, since he wasn't sleeping, we brought him in to act as color consultant.

I ran across these photos the other day in my organizing binge. The photo I'm missing is the one of the dragonslaying. They're still on the walls of his bedroom, mostly covered up with posters and furniture now. At some point, we'll have to paint over them, I know. And I'm okay with that. This was a very fun project to do, with a lot of laughter, though not at all as artistic as real mural painting. But it's a great way to add fun artwork to a child's room.